Nickel Industries defies sector woes as it posts record FY earnings
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
The news: Nickel Industries reported record earnings and production levels for the year to December 2023, despite the sector suffering from plunging nickel prices.
The numbers: Group EBITDA reached a record USD403.3 million ($621 million) for the year, up 18.9% compared to FY22. Group revenue jumped 54.5% year on year to USD1.88 billion as the company produced record levels of nickel metal. Statutory profit, however, lowered 2.5% to USD121.6 million.
The board declared a final dividend of 2.5 cents per share, up from 2 cents per share a year earlier.
Nickel's share price was down 0.7% in early trading on the ASX.
The context: The Sydney-based mining business said its record full-year financial performance was underpinned by production consistency across its established sites, with record production and profit contribution from its Hengjaya Mine in Indonesia.
The company noted that the result was achieved despite materially a lower London Metal Exchange nickel price in 2023 (USD21,487 per tonne) compared to 2022 (USD25,623 per tonne).
Having acquired an additional 10% interest in Oracle Nickel to take its equity ownership of 80% in August 2023, Nickel Industries said it only reached its full production capacity in the third quarter.
What they said: Executive chair Norman Seckold said: "Despite recent market turbulence, we have great confidence in the outlook for our business as evidenced by our commitment to increasing our 2023 final dividend to 2.5c and announcing capital management initiatives that will allow enhanced returns to our valued shareholders".
The source: ASX announcement
